The Vengeful Vampire (Creature Feature, #2)

by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Arthur was the business. Quincy was the muscle. Renny was the brains. Mina was the history. It was her job to know what they were looking at and why.

It sang to her. It wanted to be open. No—not it. He. Free me, a voice inside her mind begged. Free me. I am so alone. I am so cold.

"I am going to ask a question…and I don't want anyone to panic." A beat as they all waited for him to speak again. "Where is the corpse?" Quincy moved his flashlight to shine down into the coffin. And sure enough… It was empty. The corpse was gone. There was a dark stain where the body had been, its decaying fluid ruining the upholstery. The Tupperware bin was still there, now empty, as if the corpse had never been there. As if the corpse had…taken his fingers back.

The Ancient & Honorable Institute for the Preservation of Antiquities

Happiness. How he had missed it. And how he would burn the world if it meant that he could keep it.

"Mr. Harker, I presume?"

"Don't smirk at me." She glowered as if to hurt him by that method alone. "I cannot help it. You are…" He struggled to find a word that was both true and mildly insulting. "Adorable."

There was only one thing that caused his body to put on the false appearance of life—passion. For violence, for blood, or for flesh. And tonight, he was to have all three.

"But we both know the truth." "And what's that?" She glowered at him with such vehemence she might as well have been a poisonous snake. He smiled. "You want me." The reward he received for his observation was another fist to the jaw.

"You are mine," he whispered, his breath now warm. The sound of his heartbeat was deafening to him. But it was a beautiful tempo for their new dance. "Now and forever. In this life and the next. I will never stop hunting you, no matter how far you may run."

She knew the world wouldn't let them go quietly into the darkness together. But she didn't care. She listened to the slowly-stilling sound of his heartbeat beneath her cheek as she fell asleep in the arms of the man—the monster—she could finally admit she loved. Who she had always loved.

But he didn't move—didn't breathe—and his body was at room temperature. She had no way of knowing if he was undead or just dead-dead. And more problematically, she didn't know if he was awake or not. Vampire dating problems.

“You shouldn’t be smoking in the hospital.” “Yeah. I know.” He flicked the cigarette out the window. “I got bored.” “I’d say the shit’ll kill you, but…” “You know better.” He stood from the radiator and walked over to the bed. “Besides, smoking in a room with oxygen is how you blow up a hospital, jackass.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s fine. I turned yours off. You’ll live.” She really wished she had a gun to shoot him with at the moment.

“Preservation of antiquities. That’s my job.”